Congrats on Another Year of Progress!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Posted by Ben Packard, vp, Global Responsibility

Each year this is one of my most anticipated events. The release of our Annual Global Responsibility Report is a time for us to celebrate our accomplishments toward building thriving communities in the neighborhoods where we do business. Through our steadfast commitment to ethically sourcing our coffee, developing comprehensive recycling solutions and activating partners and customers to participate in community service, we have continued to make great progress toward our stated goals.

Here are a few highlights:

• Environmental stewardship: In 2011 we began to roll out our new global approach to green building and built 75% of our new company-owned stores to meet the LEED® standard. We also continue to gain traction in our effort to develop comprehensive recycling solutions and bring front-of-store recycling to our stores.

• Community involvement: In celebration of our company’s 40th anniversary, we mobilized our partners (employees) and customers to make a difference in their communities, and our community service contribution doubled to 442,000 hours served.

• Ethical sourcing: Starbucks is continuing to work toward our 2015 goal to purchase 100% responsibly-grown and ethically-traded coffee. We are now sourcing nearly 86% of our coffee in a way that promotes continuous improvement in quality, productivity, environmental stewardship and transparency.

The achievements outlined in this years’ report are the result of efforts, not only from our partners, but from customers as well. Thank you for your dedication to improving the communities where Starbucks operates around the world. If you have feedback, I look forward to hearing your ideas for improvement via My Starbucks Idea.